In the professional realm, most speeches and presentations we give are informative in scope. A scientist needs to explain her recent research findings. A financial officer needs to report on quarterly earnings to his company’s board. A technology professional needs to educate a consumer about a new product. Any time you need to convey ideas or demonstrate a process, you’re dealing with informative speaking.
Informative speaking is a fun puzzle. You need to think from the perspective of your audience to identify what they need to hear in order to understand the key ideas. How much does the audience already know? What are the most important elements to convey? How should one convey these ideas with appropriate breadth and depth given the time constraints of the speech? This demands a strategic approach to speech design that we’ll undertake in this class.
By the end of the course, you should be able to explain complex ideas vividly and accessibly, design clear and compelling presentation slides, convey your passion for a topic while maintaining your professional credibility, and speak dynamically from notes and/or a manuscript. Learners will record speeches, providing and receiving peer feedback.

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Week 1: Targeting your presentation

This week, we’ll focus on essential strategies for designing informative speeches. The key issue is: what does the audience need? This process of identifying constraints and opportunities will allow you to zero in on a set of achievable goals, not trying to do too much nor too little. By the end of the week, you will have some tactics for thinking strategically about your goals in any speech. If you want some feedback, you’ll be able to upload an introductory speech for peer review.